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Please help me with a decision.
After sitting in my stand last season and noticing my scope had got loose I decided I need to bring an iron sighted "backup" rifle with me in case something like that happens again. I could see banging my scope on something or falling on my rear and "adjusting" my scope. My first thought was a .30-30. Simple, reliable, a decent performer out to 150 yards and ammo is cheap.
I thought then about a backup that I could use for larger North American game. My .30-06 will handle anything on the continent. I'm not so sure about .30-30. I've considered a number of calibers. The ones I really like (.35 Whelen, .444 Marlin, etc...) are either expensive rifles (I'm looking for a backup), ammo is hard to find or both.
I've narrowed it down to .30-30, .35 Remingon and .45-70. I supect the readers or this site are familiar with the ballistics of these calibers so I won't bore you with a description. I'm aware that these are all short range cartridges; that's ok. I'm mostly hunting in thick forest. If you wanted a backup rifle for anything up to and including elk, which of these would you choose?
I'm looking to keep my cost of a rifle low so please no $1000 wonder rifles. When I'm ready I already have my eye on a CZ in .375 H&H.
Help me out please! Thanks.
Erich I assume your 30-06 does not have iron sights? Very few rifles out here are without iron sights and I think that is a shortcoming with American made rifles.
Had it been me I would have spent energy in ensuring a good scope and good mounts on my rifle because the logistics and effort to carry a second rifle to a tree stand and up scare me no end. I have not once in my 55 years of hunting needed to have a back up rifle.
If you MUST, then my experience with the 30-30 Marlin JM lever action says it would be my choice.
Actually it does but the scope mount is not conducive to switching to them. To tell the truth, I've just been too lazy to remove the scope, sight in the irons, reattach the scope and sight it back in.
BTW, I wouldn't plan to haul a 2nd rifle to the stand. I'd just have it back at camp so I could continue the hunt when I could get to it. It was actually my .243 that developed the wobble and that one doesn't have irons. I had planned to hunt the next morning but decided to call it off. I had my .44 magnum but wasn't comfortable taking a shot beyond 50 yards with it and I chose not to freeze certain parts of my anatomy off on the chance I'd see a shooter within that range.
I see you suggest the .30-30. Can you elaborate on that a bit? For where I'm at, it would be perfect. Would you suggest using it on elk (at short range of course)? This would be a general "truck gun". It would be a backup in camp and maybe a first choice in really thick stuff.
I'll be hunting a new area next season. I believe my shots will be shorter than what I had last season so the idea of a large, medium velocity projectile makes a lot of sense to me. As always, I appreciate the input of anyone who cares to chime in.
I repeatedly develop increasing respect for the dedication American hunters display in their quest for game. Simply the thought of sitting in a tree stand (not even thinking about the cold!) scares me because I know I do not have sufficient patience for that. I am (we all are out here, I suppose) a walk and find fresh tracks and follow the tracks type hunter. My hat is off to you, my friend.
The 30-30? It will do the job but It all depends on bullet integrity - and do not make too much of expansion as a well designed 170gr bullet from the 30-30 leaving the barrel at say 2,100 ft/sec will enter the shoulder of an elk and reach the heart. Too soft designs with too thin jackets in front cause too much expansion which causes excessive drag on the bullet and which has caused too many embarressments on big game, no matter the size of the case. It will not penetrate out the other side but certainly will break an inside rib after breaking the inside humerus bone too. An elk's heart is like all herbivores up the centre of the front leg until you see the bulge of the humerous bone and that is where the bullet must go.
My choice would be a Hornady 170 gr Interlock. Out here in South Africa it would be the Peregrine 168 gr VRG-3 or the Rhino Solid Shank but presently Peregrine has an issue with their USA agent which we hope to resolve in the not too distant future.
Enjoy the thinking and plans.
Rgds.
I would pick the 35 , excellent choice IMO .. And invest in some better iron sights .. Irons on American lever guns are a bad joke from the manufacturer